Consumer sentiment suffers setback

THE Consumer Sentiment Index has undergone a massive setback, falling dramatically in the last 12 months.

The IIB Bank/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index was 64.5 in January, which is slightly up on 63.8 in December but well off the figure of 91.7 in January 2001.

Commenting on the latest figures released yesterday, IIB Bank chief economist Austin Hughes said the fairest assessment of the January data is to say that sentiment held broadly steady over December.